I'm listening to Weekend Edition this morning and have just enjoyed a piece on the music of Tinariwen, a musical group composed of members of the Tuareg people of West Africa. The Tuareg people are decendants of nomads who roamed the Sahara desert. In their struggle to find a homeland, they have been embroiled in a battle with Mali for years. Tinariwen decided to relinquish their weapons in the battle and turned to music, instead. What's very interesting to me is that they combine the traditional music and instruments from the Tuareg people with electric guitars.
When I first heard the music, and before I heard Scott Simon's explanation of the group, I thought it sounded like Indian music...but I've never been particularly gifted in assessing music. It turns out this group has just released its third album. If you're interested, you can read more about the group and its music here
We're in the midst of the Indian Festival of Lights, Diwali. I shall celebrate by having Indian food sometime this weekend, whether of my own making or at one of the dozens of Indian restaurants within a relatively small radius of our house.
Norman Mailer has died at 84. In case you didn't know.
A BBC poll, reported by The Santiago Times, says that a full 90 percent of Chileans agree that individuals will have to make lifestyle changes to address global climate change. If the poll is accurate, that's good; I wonder what percentage of Americans recognize the same thing?
There's talk of making the highland wetlands of the state of Jalisco in Mexico into growing arease for cranberries. The Mexican Rural Development Agency believes such an effort could cushion growers from the fluctuations of the pricing of corn.
Millions of Mexicans have come to the aid of their fellow countrymen who have been so devastated by the floods in the state of Tabasco. I found it heartening to read that, at one collection point in Guadalajara, "The line of people carrying canned goods, clothing and medicine stretched for nearly two blocks over the weekend, and on Monday morning a Fletes Oriente truck shipped more than 60 tons of goods to flood victims."
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